Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich was born Erin Pattee in 1960 in Lawrence, Kansas, the youngest of four children. A traumatic molestation experience and struggles with dyslexia led to feelings of low self-esteem as a young girl. It wasn't until Brockovich reached high school that the gangly teen began to hit her stride. By 1979, she was attending the Miss Wades School of Fashion Merchandising in Dallas. She then moved with some girlfriends to California, where she met and married housepainter Sean Brown. The newlyweds moved to Nevada together. By the mid-1980s, Brockovich had two children and a strained marriage. After she divorced Brown in 1987, the suddenly single mom took a secretarial job. The vivacious 27-year-old eventually fell in love with her boss, broker Steven Brockovich. The two married in 1989, but their relationship quickly fizzled. Brockovich filed for divorce, and soon afterward she learned that she was pregnant with her third child. After moving her brood to California
